Ghana to buy 80MW of power from Ivory Coast to watch Afcon game

At least there will be electricity supply nationwide for football fans to watch the Ghana – Equatorial Guinea semi-final game in the Africa Cup of Nations.

The Volta River Authority (VRA) has announced the West African nation will buy 80 megawatts of power from neighboring Ivory Coast to ensure local fans watch the Black Stars in today’s crucial encounter.

Ghana has been experiencing erratic power supply for over a year now due to low level of water in the Akosombo Dam and shortfall in gas supply from Nigeria in the West Africa Gas Pipeline to power thermal plants.

Domestic consumers now enjoy power for 12 hours and light out for 24 hours while commercial users use electricity 24 hours and go without power for 24 hours.

The VRA director in charge of business development and sales Kofi Ellis told Bloomberg the two countries have arrangements to buy each other’s excess supply.

‘Someone has to buy for us to transmit,’ an official at GRIDCO said when Starrfmonline.com contacted.

The winner of the Ghana – Equatorial Guinea game will face Ivory Coast in the final on February 8 in Bata.